1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to technology of generating a bitmap of a three-dimensional (3D) model for 3D printing.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the case of a material-jetting three-dimensional (3D) printing method such as poly jet or Multi Jet Modeling (MJM), a support material for supporting a floating part is required in a printing process in order for the part not to flow down, and a region in which the support material is to be formed should be determined before a 3D model is printed.
In the related art, Korean Patent No. 10-0450358 includes dividing an output object in a direction perpendicular to an output direction of a 3D printer, calculating a part material region and a support material region in the direction perpendicular to the output direction of the 3D printer, and outputting the calculated part material region and support material region when the 3D model is output.
However, in the related art, only after finding a position of a part material for each layer, merging bitmaps of all part materials of tops of each layer and each of the layers (OR), and finding a Boolean difference between the merged bitmap and a bitmap indicating a part material position of a corresponding layer (XOR) to complete a support material bitmap of the corresponding layer, the 3D printer may start outputting. As a result, since positions of support material regions should be sequentially calculated beginning with a top layer in the related art, parallelization is impossible, and a very large amount of calculation is required.
Furthermore, in the related art, part material and support material bitmaps of a bottom layer needed for a 3D printer to start outputting may not be preferentially calculated. Thus, part material regions of all upper layers should be calculated in order to know a support material region of the bottom layer.
Accordingly, in the related art, the 3D printer may start outputting only after generating part material bitmaps of all layers.